Wyoming GOP slams Liz Cheney after she said state party chair was radical

The Wyoming Republican Party lashed out at Rep. Liz Cheney after said the top official in the state GOP was “quite radical.”

The state party hit her for sounding more like 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton than a Republican and for embarking on a quest against fellow Republicans.

“If Ms. Cheney wants to continue to pick a fight with the majority of Wyoming Republicans and accuse the vast majority of being deplorables and radicals, then of course she can continue that foolish ploy,” the Wyoming GOP statement read. “She can also continue to engage in the politics of personal destruction with other Republicans — which is her specialty and only real qualification to sit on the farcical January 6 Commission — but that is unlikely to improve her position in the polls.”

Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler told The Washington Times that the congresswoman stands by her comments and has always been a conservative Republican.

“Like many other Republicans across Wyoming, she is deeply troubled by those members of our state party who have taken dangerous, and in some cases unconstitutional positions, such as advocating for secession. After the 2020 election, former President [Donald] Trump ignored the rulings of more than 60 courts, went to war with the rule of law, and defied the plain text of our Constitution,” Mr. Adler said. “These actions culminated with a violent attack on our Capitol on Jan. 6th, 2021. Liz ran for office as a Constitutional Conservative; she cannot condone what happened on January 6th, and she will never abandon her conservative principles.” 

Ms. Cheney sat down with Fox News on Thursday and excoriated the Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne. When asked why the Wyoming Republican Party passed a resolution to no longer recognize as a Republican she called her state party “radical.”

“There are people in the state party apparatus of my home state who are quite radical. And some of those same people include people who were here on Jan. 6, include a party chair who has toyed with the idea of secession,” Ms. Cheney said referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. “So, there is a very radical element of the Republican Party in the same way that there is a radical element of the Democratic Party.”

Mr. Eathorne appeared on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s “War Room: Pandemic” show at the beginning of last year to talk about Ms. Cheney’s impeachment vote and made a suggestion about secession.

Mr. Bannon is one of the witnesses the House Jan. 6 committee has held in contempt for not complying with a subpoena.

Mr. Eathorne was at a rally outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2001, which he said in a statement to the Casper Star-Tribune was “peaceful and patriotic.”

Ms. Cheney is one of two anti-Trump Republicans on the Democratic-run committee investigating the origins of the riot. She is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and has represented Wyoming’s at-large House district since 2017.

She faces a multicandidate primary challenge, including an opponent, attorney Harriet Hageman, who Mr. Trump endorsed.

The state party also expects a solid rebuke of Ms. Cheney in two Jan. 22 straw polls: One to gauge support for Ms. Cheney’s recent statement and one to test support for Ms. Cheney and her primary opponents.

“Spoiler alert: the straw polls will very likely demonstrate the vast majority condemns her views and will be voting for someone else,” the Wyoming GOP statement said.

Ms. Cheney has had a rocky relationship with members of the GOP in Washington and her state party since she backed the impeachment of then-President Trump for inciting the Capitol riot.

Mr. Trump was impeached by the Democratic-run House and acquitted by the Republican-run Senate.

Months later, Republicans voted her out as conference chair. Early last year, the state party voted to censure her over her vote to impeach Mr. Trump and they later voted, by a slim margin, to not recognize her as a Republican as well.